computer

[RCRDaleFan]

in a perfect world im sure there is only one responce to this question, but since this isn't a perfect world any feedback i can get and consider would be a big help... im going to dedicate a pc to my mame, but i want to put the money where it is needed and not on all the bells and whistles i won't use...what would be the ideal pc for a mame as far as specs go...ie memory, hard drive ect. and at what point is it over kill on all them?

thanks in advance everyone

Phil

[JustMichael]

Currently CPU speed is the most critical thing.  Also get a board that supports DDR ram.  256MB should be more than enough for quite a while.  Toss in a hard drive big enough to hold all the roms.  Current Mame roms take up about 4 1/2 GB zipped and merged.

[u_rebelscum]

in a perfect world im sure there is only one responce to this question, but since this isn't a perfect world any feedback i can get and consider would be a big help... im going to dedicate a pc to my mame, but i want to put the money where it is needed and not on all the bells and whistles i won't use...what would be the ideal pc for a mame as far as specs go...ie memory, hard drive ect. and at what point is it over kill on all them?

thanks in advance everyone

Phil

All depends on which games you want to play.  This is what I think is needed for most games:

memory: 256megs (128 if pacman/galaga games, maybe 512 for a few upcoming games)

harddrive:  30gigs  (more to prep for future games that had their own harddrives)  Any smaller and you don't save any money.

cpu: 1.2 gig athlon/p3/p4 (pentium 200 for pacman/galaga, 1600+ athlonXP/2gig p4 for the harder to emulate games which includes some old and some new games)

cdrom, 17"+ monitor, speakers,  any sound  & video card (unless it's on you MB) that works well on your OS & MB combo.

network card/modem to get the games.

trackball if you like trackball games
spinner for spinner games
pedals for racing games, etc.

For a mame only PC, you don't need firewire, DVD, don't need top of the line video card.

JM2C

[RCRDaleFan]

Would it be better to build my own pc?...i never have before but i have the time and the willingness to learn and if anyone has any web pages that you think might be of help with the building , i would appreciate it. maybe it would be gr8 for the experience?

Thanks again all

Phil

[BASSOFeeSH]

If you've ever upgraded your PC via PCI cards or new harddrives, you may be ready to build your own.

I'm sure there's plenty of walk-throughs on the net, just search on google.

IMHO, the only hard part is attaching the heatsinks w/o destroying the CPU.(Not really hard, but scary as hell)